Planting Leeks

In my opinion, the best way to grow leeks is to buy them as starts and transplant them.  I have tried to grow them from seed, but I much prefer the starter method.  Growing from seed is a bit tricky. It requires that the seeds be refrigerated over night before sowing, and then soil temps of between 68 and 78 degrees (20 to 25 Celsius).  After germination, they need thinning, and they do not give themselves up easily, often breaking during the process, necessitating another thinning of the regrown stumps.  So, since I already have my hands full of other things that absolutely require direct sowing and careful (read: time-consuming) thinning, I choose the starter method of planting leeks.

I buy them in "sets," meaning a bundle of plants (you can do the same with onions as well).  Seventy bucks gets me 30 bundles of 60 plants, about 1800 leeks.  I get them from Dixondale Farms in southern Texas. The photo above shows the last few bundles in their shipping container.

Before we plant, we use our standard bed prep, see this post for how I do that.  Once prepared, and the bed is quite fluffy from incorporating the amendments, we dig a trench about six inches deep with a trowel:

We then firmly push the bottom of the leek into the soft soil at the bottom of the trench, about an inch apart:

When we finish a row, we fill in the trench.  This is the important part: only a bit of the leek is then above the soil surface.  Most of the leek is underground.  This will enable the leek to grow tall and strong, as well as have a nice long white neck, before the above ground plant tissue is turned green from photosynthesis.  We then dig another trench about six inches next to the first row and continue planting.  Once we are finished, we water them in well.

Leeks can be grown year round in some climates, like my California garden.  If you live in a snowy area, they should be planted well before winter, so that when the snow comes, the leeks are big enough to continue living in the cold ground with a thick mulching of straw.  You can go out and harvest them as you like, big or small.  We typically pull them small for Manresa.  Here is a picture of some of our leeks prepared by Alain Passard when he came to the restaurant last spring to cook a few special dinners. Photo courtesy of Chezpim.com

Comments

[Jeanne]

I live in Southern Oregon where we have light snows. Our last frost date is May 10. Can I plant the starts now?

[Chris Brandow]

i am now working with my first leeks from starts thanks! Is it important to keep some of the green exposed to light in your experience? I did not, I buried them ~6-8 inches and so far I am getting mixed results in how many are coming up, though it has only been 2.5 weeks. thanks for your great site.

[Rose]

Thanks for your post... I have come upon a handful of starter leeks and needed info on how to plant them, so I googled "planting leeks" and this was the first result! Just what I needed to know- thanks!

[Jeannie Kret]

I bought some leeks, chopped off the edible parts and the part left with the roots, I stuck them into my veggie garden.

It has only been a couple of weeks and the tops are growing. I did not plant it deep - so I'm guessing I won't be having any deep white parts!

Is this a way to grow edible leeks?

[Bill Nunes]

Cynthia,
I discovered leeks this past year. Actually I discovered that they are fairly easy and, as you said, much less sensitive about when they grow than other alliums.
In smaller numbers they are easy to start in flats, prick out into 2" pots and finally to the garden - but it takes forever.
You might suggest your home gardeners try them from seed in this way. I transplanted in July and they withstood plenty of days over 90F here in the Central Valley.
Love your site and good gardening info.
Bill

[Keith Winkelman]

Cynthia,
Do you have a recommendation for a good min/max thermometer. I've done some preliminary 411 but the pickings seem to be slim. Lots of models are discontinuted. Any advice?
Keith